A Case of Mistaken Identity
by rainonherwindow
Summary: 'Cana wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "A bruise huh? Sure it's not a hickey?"' / In which Natsu is very confused, the guild get the wrong end of the stick and Lucy's bruise is NOT a hickey. Fluffy NaLu oneshot to ease the pain.


**A.N. Here, have a fluffy NaLu oneshot to help conceal the pain.**

**This was written for a tumblr anon prompt earlier today. Enjoy!**

When she glanced in the bathroom mirror that morning, Lucy was not pleased with the sight that stared back at her: a medium-sized bruise decorated the skin across her collarbone, painting it a lovely reddish-purple that she _so _didn't feel like dealing with at such an early hour.

She groaned. Of _course _the collision had left a mark - Natsu's hard-headedness wasn't just figurative, after all, and he had hit her at quite a speed.

The previous day Team Natsu had taken what they had thought would be a quick, easy-money type mission as Lucy's rent due date was looming ever closer. They'd been tasked with the capture of some (what they'd been led to believe were) run-of-the-mill bandits, but the group had been taken by surprise when they'd discovered the bandits had hired a mage as protection - a giant of a man whose terrifyingly muscular physique had proven to be unexpectedly tough. However in the end his lack of magical prowess and heavy reliance on his physical strength caused him to succumb to the barrage of fire, ice, swords, wind, a whip and a large double-bladed axe, courtesy of Taurus.

Unfortunately, this was not before he had the chance to catch Natsu in the face with a powerful right hook, sending the pink-haired dragon slayer careening backwards and crashing headfirst into Lucy, his forehead smacking painfully against her clavicle.

Hence the bruise.

Lucy groaned once again and turned to rummage through her top drawer, finally pulling out a black turtleneck that would conveniently cover her ill-acquired contusion and setting off towards the guild.

The guild was, as usual, loud. She ducked instinctively as she opened the door. A half-naked body flew out over her head.

Ah, she'd arrived just in time for the early morning brawl.

"Get back here, ice bastard!" came the yell of her partner as he ploughed after the now recovering Gray. "Oh, hey Luce!" He gave her a dazzling grin before lunging past her and tackling the ice-make mage behind.

Lucy rolled her eyes fondly and made her way to the bar, deftly dodging an errant chair as it hurtled by her and slammed into the wall, consequently losing a leg.

"Good morning, Lucy," Mirajane smiled warmly as the blonde approached. "Anything I can get you?"

Lucy smiled back. "Morning. A coffee would be great, thanks."

The white-haired woman nodded and hurried away to prepare the beverage.

"So, Lucy," said Cana as her friend sat down beside her, half-empty barrel perched cheerfully atop the bar. "Anything interesting happen on that mission yesterday?"

Lucy shrugged. "Not really - thanks Mira," she replied as Mira returned and handed Lucy her coffee. "Besides this horrifyingly huge macho-dude who claimed to be a mage and Natsu having an intimate moment with my shoulder, nothing particularly noteworthy happened. It was just one of those missions."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Cana made a time-out sign. Mira stared at the blonde, eyes suddenly sparkling a tad alarmingly. "'Intimate moment'? When did _that_ happen? Tell me everything!" She grinned wickedly.

Red tinted Lucy's cheeks and her eyes grew wide. "Not like that!" She cried, seriously regretting not thinking that sentence through harder before saying it aloud. Sure, it may have come out slightly more suggestively than she'd meant, but what was it with everyone jumping to the same conclusion whenever she and Natsu were mentioned together? It wasn't like that!

Well, not for him anyway. Lucy herself _may _or _may not _have been hopelessly head-over-heels for the idiot, something that no one, sans Levy, was aware of. (The tiny bluenette was only in the know because Lucy, in a haze of writer's block-induced fatigue, had accidentally let slip that she was _pretty sure _she was in love with her partner. Levy had grinned so widely Lucy was convinced you'd have been able to count her teeth all the way from Crocus.)

Unfortunately for the blonde, however, Natsu did not seem to reciprocate her feelings. In fact, Lucy wasn't even sure he even thought of her as _girl_, in the crudest sense of the word. It wasn't as if he was completely devoid of the concept of sexuality - he'd been a pervert enough times to make that very clear. He was fully aware of 'adult topics'. The problem was he just didn't seem to associate _Lucy _with them. To be fair, he didn't seem to associate _anyone_ with them. He may know, understand and be a little bit of a perv from time to time, but that didn't mean he showed any real interest in the opposite sex. Or the same sex, for that matter.

But aware of the concept or not, he still appeared to be as oblivious to Lucy's feelings as a brick.

Cana's eyebrows rose. "Sure~" she sang. Lucy sighed and rolled her eyes.

Apparently the entire guild had decided that she and Natsu had a _thing_ \- or at least should. It never failed to make Lucy flustered, much to her chagrin. Natsu, on the other hand, always seemed unperturbed by it.

The worst part about the guild-wide belief was her nakama weren't far off the mark of how Lucy did indeed feel.

"Natsu crashed into me on the job yesterday after he was punched by that giant guy. It left a bruise along here," she ran a finger across her collarbone. "That's it." She took a sip of her coffee.

Cana wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "A bruise huh? Sure it's not a hickey?"

The liquid it Lucy's mouth spurted out in a _ppffftt _of spit and cappuccino. She coughed. "_What?"_

"What!?"

Lucy froze. Oh no. She spun around, wiping her mouth, and was graced with the pale, shocked face of Erza Scarlet.

"No, Erza, you misheard - it's not what you think-"

Her friend's face sobered. "Who did it Lucy? Are they trustworthy? If even _think _of hurting you they'll be sure to the feel the cold steel of-"

Cana interrupted the redhead's ramblings with a very unhelpful: "It was Natsu."

That stopped the requip mage dead in her tracks. "What?"

The world did not appear to be on Lucy's side that day, as just at that moment Gray plonked down on the stool next to her, holding a block of his ice to a large bump on the top of his head.

"What was Natsu?" He asked, glancing between the four of them.

Mira giggled. Lucy sent her a pleading look. Something in the take-over mage's eyes twinkled in an all-too-mischievous way for the blonde's liking. "Oh, Lucy just mentioned she has a rather unfortunate bruise."

Gray frowned. "Huh? You okay, Lucy? What's that got to do with flame-brain?"

Erza swallowed. Cana grinned wickedly. "Someone got a little _too _excited, apparently. I always suspected that pink-haired moron would be the love bite type."

Gray stared blankly for a second as the brunette's words registered in his mind. He fell off his stool.

"_What?!_"

Several heads turned towards the commotion at the bar. Lucy was could feel her face flaming. _Just kill her now._

"Yo, popsicle-face, what's the matter?" _Oh no._

Natsu strolled up to the group, one eyebrow raised in confusion. "What's up with you guys?" He took in Lucy's fiery cheeks, Erza's stunned expression, Gray's disbelieving gape, the quite frankly alarming gleam in Mira's eyes and Cana's impish grin. He eyebrow climbed higher.

"You okay, Lucy? Your face is really red."

Lucy met his gaze for a second before quickly looking away, her blush deepening as Cana's words echoed back to her.

Happy, who'd floated over behind Natsu, landed on the counter and smirked. "_You liiiiiiiike him_."

Lucy sent the little blue feline her best death-from-the-eyes glare. "Shut it, cat!"

Erza seemed to snap out of her shock induced daze. She turned to the dragon slayer. He paled at her expression. "Natsu," she began sternly. "I'm very disappointed that you did not feel it necessary to inform us of your change in relationship with Lucy." She gave said blonde a serious look. "You too, Lucy."

"No, Erza it's really not what you think! You've got the wrong-" the celestial mage garbled. She was cut off, however, when Erza grabbed both her and Natsu and painfully smashed their heads to her armour-covered bosom.

"That being said," she continued, ignoring Lucy's previous desperate attempt to _explain the real situation goddamnit. _"I am very pleased that you two have finally accepted your feelings and confessed. Although I may not completely agree with the order you have gone about your newfound relations, I am very happy and will support you through any troubles you may face in the future. And of course I fully expect to be maid of honour."

Natsu stared at the redhead uncomprehendingly, bewilderment painted across his features.

You could've fried an egg, and probably several pieces of toast, on Lucy's face.

Gray grabbed the back of Natsu's vest. "What the hell, flame brain?" He exclaimed. "When exactly were you planning on telling us?"

Natsu growled. "You wanna go, princess?" He was still not entirely sure what the _hell_ was going on but if frostbutt wanted a fight he'd give him a fight.

"Oh yeah, Casanova?"

By this point, the confusion at the bar had attracted the attention of the entire guild.

"What exactly are you lot fussing over?" Macao asked from his table.

Cana cackled and loudly proclaimed, "Natsu gave Lucy a hickey."

There was silence.

Then everything exploded.

Cheers erupted throughout the hall. People clamoured to congratulate the pair, whooping and catcalling. Numerous calls of 'finally!' rang out, one such cry coming from a grinning Lisanna, who fistbumped with her sister. Elfman stood behind them, tears streaming down his face as he yelled about how proud he was of Natsu's 'manly' exploits. Levy squealed and pulled Lucy away from Erza, promptly glomping the blonde. Gajeel punched Natsu in the arm.

"Didn't know you had it in ya, Salamander."

It said a lot about what was happening in Natsu's brain that he made no response, not even an irritated growl. He just stared blankly ahead, the gears in his head clunking slowly back into action. They'd ground to a halt when he'd heard 'Natsu', 'Lucy' and 'hickey' slung together in a single sentence. When the bloody hell had _that_ happened? He was pretty sure that would be something he'd remember doing, _especially _if it was with Lucy.

"_Enough!_"

Lucy's partly exasperated, partly embarrassed and partly angry yell cut through the ruckus of her celebrating guildmates and cast a blanket of quiet. She straightened up, everyone's eyes on her, and continued, firmly ignoring the flush colouring her cheeks.

"I have _not _got a hickey, and Natsu and I are _not _together."

The guild blinked.

Natsu, finally jarring his brain back into working order, turned to her. "What's going on exactly?"

Lucy rubbed her forehead and sighed. "You know when you flew into me yesterday?" Natsu nodded. "Well you left quite a pretty bruise and _someone_," she cast Cana a withering look, "decided to joke that it was hickey. Things escalated after Erza overheard her and got the wrong end of the stick."

"Huh," Natsu replied. He studied her for a moment, their eyes locking.

Then he swooped down and planted quick kiss on her lips.

Lucy froze as every cell in her body simultaneously combusted. Her lips tingled and a pleasant warmth trickled through her veins, all the way down to the tips of her fingers and ends of her toes.

An enormous cheer, even louder than the last, swelled from the gathered guild members.

"A round of drinks!"

"Aye!"

Fairy Tail returned to their celebrating, this time, however, leaving the two causes of their elation to themselves - relatively.

After she recovered from several seconds of blissful stupor, Lucy stared up at her partner. "Natsu?"

The pink-haired boy grinned at her and tentatively wrapped his arms around her waist. He glanced down at her, asking with his eyes if this was okay. Lucy smiled and blushed prettily, burying her flaming face in his chest.

"You had to kiss me in front of the entire guild didn't you?" she said, voice muffled against his scarf.

Natsu laughed. "Hey, it wasn't the _entire _guild-"

Lucy pulled away from his chest with and grabbed his face, interrupting him. "Shut up, Natsu," she murmured and tugged his lips down to hers. She distantly heard Happy give an evil little snicker and a subsequent chirping of: "_they liiiiiiike each other~"_

Natsu laughed against her lips. Eventually, they drew apart and the dragon slayer dipped his head down next to hers so his breath ghosted against her ear.

"So about that hickey..."


End file.
